Page 55 of An Unexpected Turn
I laughed and sat on the edge of my bed.
“You’re an animal, Mr. Russo.”
“So, am I forgiven?” he asked as he settled next to me. “For cheating you out of chocolate that day?”
He snickered as he bit the side of the cone, already almost done with his.
“That whole day was traumatic.” I sighed before taking another lick. “Ice cream sounded like a good idea until Uncle Keith mentioned you were going to meet us there. I was fifteen and he was taking me for ice cream like I was a kid, and thenyouhad to be there.”
“Well, I guess I’m sorry about that too.”
I shoved his shoulder as he cracked up.
“I think he wasn’t sure what else to do with me because I was older, and I didn’t mind because being with him was still fun. But something about you being there for it made it embarrassing. I didn’t want to be such an awkward kid in front of you.”
“You weren’t awkward, you were quiet. I have my own teenager now who hardly speaks.”
“Then we went to mini golf, and I just put the ball where you both told me and nodded every time you tried to speak to me, praying you’d keep asking questions with yes or no answers. The whole thing, even now, is taxing to think about.” I cut him a look, scowling as his lips continued to twitch. “Eating an ice cream cone around a guy you like is stressful. You have to worry if it’s all over your face or dripping down your chin. You know what?” I moved over to the other side of the bed, turning toward my bedroom wall and away from Jake. “Don’t look at me until I finish.”
“Is that why you’re eating so slow? I’m still distracting you?”
The bed dipped behind me, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of turning my head.
He came up behind me and leaned in, dragging his tongue up the side of the cone where the chocolate was melting onto my fingers, swallowing the rest of the scoop in one bite, holding my eyes as he licked his lips. My clit throbbed with every swipe of his tongue as if he were licking me instead of ice cream.
He took the empty cone out of my hand and put it on the nightstand. I whimpered when he sucked my fingers, one by one, into his mouth. Licking them clean and inching them out.
“Still tongue-tied, sweetheart?”
Our mouths crashed together as we fell back on my bed. I climbed on top of him and straddled his legs, a growl escaping him when his hand slipped under his shirt and he found me bare. I rocked back and forth, his cock hard and twitching against my core. I was about to lift his shirt over my head when his phone buzzed from where it still lay on the floor.
Jake glanced at the screen and winced. “It’s Mike. I’m sorry.”
I plucked the phone off the floor and handed it to Jake, quickly climbing off him before he could answer.
“Hey, is everything okay? I’ll be home in a bit. I had to check on a job today. Tell your aunt and the girls to relax. I’ll be right there, and we can order dinner. I would’ve thought a mountain of pancakes would fill you guys up until tonight.” Jake laughed, an easy smile stretching his lips like it always did when he was with his son.
I loved how easily he showed his affection toward Mike and the strong friendship he had with my uncle. Uncle Keith had said more than once that he and Jake were more like brothers than friends.
And here I was, putting a wrench in all of it. Jake couldn’t even tell his son where he really was all afternoon. I wasn’t mad at him for lying, but hated that any time we spent together from now on would mean dishonesty to the people we cared about the most. I wished Jake had stopped at my uncle’s house so this could have blown up already and we could deal with whatever came afterward.
I peeled off his shirt and grabbed my robe from the back of my bedroom door. Forcing a smile, I handed Jake his shirt and grabbed the empty ice cream cone from my nightstand, leaving my bedroom before Jake dressed.
Trudging up to my sink and tossing the cone into the trash, I tore off a paper towel and ran it under the water to bring it into the bedroom and wipe away the sticky trail of ice cream from my nightstand. When Travis would leave my apartment, I’d feel empty, the disappointment heavy but dulling over time as it became familiar. This was different, as the decision to lie low—for now—was made by both of us.
I still hated being this crazy about someone and unable to scream about it to everyone I knew.
“Hey,” Jake crooned from behind me as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “The last thing I want to do right now is leave—”
“You have Mike and your family waiting for you. I understand and would never expect you not to put your son first.”
“And I love that about you, but that doesn’t mean I wanted today to end. Soon, sweetheart. We’ll get through this issue at school, tell Keith, and I can let everyone know you’re mine. And we’ll have so many more days just like this.”
I nodded, pushing a smile across my mouth as my nose burned. Why was I so emotional? I’d never felt this way when I parted ways with Travis at the end of a night. Maybe something in me knew that it was all temporary, that his drawn-out fake divorce created distance between us that I not only accepted but maybe even wanted.
I didn’t want to be temporary with Jake. I wanted today and any scraps of time I could get with him.
“You believe me, right, sweetheart?” He turned me around to face him and took my face in his hands. “This isn’t what happened to you before. I’m not him, and I hate feeling like that’s where your mind is going right now.”
